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Does anyone know why is it so hard to grow vegetables, but weed (no, not that kind...) grows easily even in the worst conditions?

I have a shady area along the fence near my veggie garden, and the weed always gows there. Lousy soil, no water, no sun - it thrives. I just spent some time pulling them - I'm dead, they are alive :eek::rolleyes::D

If you are serious about an answer, here it is. Weeds are usually native plants although some are invasive foreigners that found an ideal environment. There are only two food plants native to North America, corn and amaranth. All others were brought over by our forefathers. Those amber waves of grain were brought over from Europe.

So most vegetables are being grown in an environment they are not used to. You have to do everything that you can to make the environment suitable for them. This will help control some weeds as the change in environment will not be to their liking, but it seems that most adapt pretty quickly.

You might get a copy of a book on "companion planting" or google it for information. Sometimes the weeds turn out to be beneficial to the vegetables by being more attractive to pests (insects) or hosting predators for those pests. Some weeds will not be good neighbors though, but a good article or book on this subject will point those out.

You could also try a change in attitude. A weed is just a plant that is growing where it is not wanted. Some desirable houseplants are considered a weed in their native country. I live out in the country and although my neighbors have weeds in their fields, I don't have any weeds, but I do have a lot of bio-diversity.

BTW, I am already harvesting from my vegetable garden. I have some Brussels Sprouts, Asparagus and carrots. I got my first Asparagus in February this year, unbelievable.

Thank you Keith for the valuable information. A war against the weed is not a war I can win. I just don't want them stealing our irrigation water, since we don't have a lot of water out here. This season we are only 20% of normal rainfall. In English it's called: drought.

It's pretty amazing that you have crops so early, but this year has been really crazy. We have lemons, cherry tomatoes and bok choy (Asian lettuce) ready to be harvested.

It is illegal to torch weeds? Never heard of such nonsense! Torching is not something I'd recommend in the dead of summer when things are easily set ablaze, but you shouldn't have too much trouble with that sort of thing just yet. What I do when flare ups are possible is to stretch out a garden hose to the area being torched and give it a light sprinkling after torching. You do understand that you are not actually trying to "burn" anything with a torch. Flaming them into oblivion does nothing but spark new growth from the untouched roots. You are only trying to scorch the weeds beyond their ability to repair themselves, hence causing them to bleed to death.

We're still getting frost some nights, so it's a bit early yet, though it is much warmer and dryer than usual, even for drought years.

As to your weed problem, I'd recommend smothering them with organic material. Straw is common, but around these parts it is usually rice straw which is laden with chemical pesticides, herbicides, and fertilizers. Grass clippings will work well if you've got them, otherwise use grass or alfalfa hay which doesn't tend to have the pollutants in it. Smothering will kill most of them and make the few die-hards easier to yank out.